Baylor will play a school-record eight home games in 2023 as it will begin a new era of Big 12 football by facing three of the four new teams, including UCF, Cincinnati and Houston.
The Big 12 announced its entire 2023 football schedule on Tuesday, which includes 14 teams since Texas and Oklahoma will still be in the league before jumping to the SEC in 2025. Each team will play nine conference games like previous seasons, but won’t play a round-robin schedule.
The Bears will play UCF in Orlando on Sept. 30 before traveling to Cincinnati on Oct. 21 and hosting Houston on Nov. 4 at McLane Stadium. The only new Big 12 team from the American Athletic Conference that Baylor won’t play is BYU, which the Bears have faced the last two seasons in Waco and Provo, Utah.
The Bears won’t play Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Kansas in the revamped schedule.
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Baylor will play all three nonconference games at home beginning with Texas State on Sept. 2, and first-ever meetings against defending Pac-12 champion Utah on Sept. 9 and Long Island on Sept. 16.
The Bears will open Big 12 play with their fourth straight home game against Texas on Sept. 23. The Bears will then play their second-ever game against UCF, which defeated Baylor, 52-42, on Jan. 1 2014 in the Fiesta Bowl.
UCF is coming off a 9-5 season that ended with a pair of losses, including a 45-28 loss to Tulane in the AAC championship game and a 30-13 loss to Duke in the Military Bowl.
After hosting Texas Tech on Oct. 7, Baylor will play Cincinnati for the first time on Oct. 21. After reaching the College Football Playoff in 2021, the Bearcats finished 9-4 overall and 6-2 in the AAC in 2022, completing the season with a 24-7 loss to Louisville in the Fenway Bowl.
The Bears will host Iowa State on Sept. 28 before hosting Houston on Nov. 4. Baylor’s last game against Houston was in the final year of the Southwest Conference in 1995 when the Bears romped to a 47-7 road win.
Baylor’s last home game against Houston was in 1994 when the Bears rolled to a 52-13 win at Floyd Casey Stadium. The Bears hold a slim 14-13-1 overall margin in their series against the Cougars.
The Cougars are coming off an 8-5 season in 2022 that included a 5-3 record in the AAC, and ending with a 23-16 win over Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl.
Baylor will play its next two games on the road at Kansas State on Nov. 11 and TCU on Nov. 18 before ending the regular season at home against West Virginia on Nov. 25.
The Bears will try to rebound from a 6-7 season that ended with four straight losses, finishing with a 30-15 loss to Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl.
Non-conference game times and television networks will be determined this summer.
Armed Forces Bowl: Baylor Bears vs. Air Force Falcons | Full Game Highlights
John Werner
Sportswriter at the Tribune-Herald since 1982. When days free up in the summers, I head to the mountains, the desert, rivers & lakes. Places where God’s grandeur overwhelms you. Places best explored by foot, all day and sometimes for several days.
